The present invention broadly relates to the building industry. In particular, the invention relates to a composite floor tile.
Covering floor foundations with ceramic materials or naturally occurring stone materials such as marble or granite is a practice that has been long favored on account of the wearing properties and the aesthetic appeal of floors so finished.
It is a well recognized fact that current floor covering procedures involve sundry operations, among which that of securing the tiles onto the floor foundation, which are time consuming and labor intensive.
These procedures include fixing the tiles in place by means of an adhesive, or by spreading a cement-based composition over the floor foundation to provide a bedding layer for the tiles.
The fixing with adhesive is advantageous on several counts, but has limitations where the floor foundation is affected by rising damp (2% residual moisture is recognized to be the upper limit for floor foundations), or whenever the foundation surface appears crumbly, dusty, or likely to develop cracks.
Where the fixing with adhesive is impracticable, a layer of a cement-based material is preferably interposed between the floor foundation surface and the tiles; this material improving the stiffness characteristic of the floor foundation provides a firmer and more durable bond of the tiles to the floor foundation even when the latter shows damp.
However, spreading such a layer of cement-based material is a time consuming and labor intense procedure that involves additional significant costs.
Furthermore, it should be noted that in addition to the tile setting operations, the floor covering process often demands that the floor foundation surface be primed and the tiled floor dressed. Due to these being fairly complicated operations, a floor covering job necessarily requires the intervention of a skilled personnel and involves high labor costs and long working times of several days. When a floor covering of some costly material, such as marble and granite, is to be installed, the laying the tiles commands special care and skill on the operators"" side due to the relatively brittleness of the material.
Finally, it should be noted that the aforementioned problems are intensified when a floor is to be installed on an already existing floor since, in that case, the old covering must be removed first, usually by shattering or otherwise taking it apart.
The underlying technical problem of the present invention is to provide a floor tile with such structural and functional features as to overcome the above shortcomings of the prior art.
The problem is solved, according to this invention, by a composite floor tile comprising a base member of a metal material, which is bonded on its top to a slab of a stone material and is bonded on its bottom to at least one rest member for ground contact.
The bond of the metal base member to the overlying stone slab and the underlying rest member is provided by means of an adhesive. A preferred adhesive is a two-component polyurethane glue comprising a glue and a hardener.
The slab of stone material is preferably 13 to 17 mm thick and typically square in shape with sides 60 or 50 cm long. Alternatively, the slab may be rectangular and measure 120 cm along its major side and 60 cm along its minor side.
A preferred stone material is granite or marble.
The base member of metal material is preferably a sheet of zinc-galvanised steel 0.5 to 1.0 mm thick, preferably 0.5 mm thick.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the sheet of zinc-galvanized steel has substantially the same dimensions as the stone slab.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the slab of stone material has an upper or tread surface and an opposed lower surface, in correspondence of which a perimeter recess is formed; the metal base member is a sheet of zinc-galvanised steel having upturned edges to fashion it into a tray having substantially the same dimensions as the stone slab; and the upturned edges fit in the perimeter recess.
The at least one rest member is preferably in the form of a plurality of rest feet bonded to peripheral regions of the underside of the base member of zinc-galvanized sheet steel. These rest feet are made of a material having adequate strength to bear the combined weight of the stone slab and the metal base member, and able to be deformed elastically under the dynamic loading from tramping on the stone slab surface.
Materials exhibiting the above features include native or recycled rubber or polymer materials such as architectural- or industrial-grade rubber, latex, silicones, soft polyvinylchloride (PVC), and fibrous materials such as pressed felt.
The rest feet may be of any shape, and have a small thickness, in the range of 1 to 3 mm, preferably equal to 2 mm.
Preferably, the rest feet are formed from smooth architectural-grade rubber, which is a conventional rubber material comprising a blend of rubber, resins, and inert substances.
As to installation, the composite tiles of this invention are simply laid onto a floor foundation or an existing floor (whether a traditional or a raised one) to produce a desired floor covering.
It has unexpectedly been found that the composite tiles of this invention, once laid down, are xe2x80x9cself-settingxe2x80x9d so to speak, i.e. are held firmly in place by their own weight, with any side force effectively opposed by their rest feet. It should be noted in this respect that, by reason of the moderate thickness dimensions of the stone slab and the metal base member, these composite tiles are not unduly heavy, and that their weight cannot impair the integrity of the floor foundation or old floor underneath.
This advantageously alleviates the tile laying operations and shortens the overall installation time required since, unlike conventional floor covering techniques, no adhesive or cement-based materials are necessary to bed the tiles in place. In addition, no preliminary removing, shattering, or dislodging work is involved in laying them onto an existing floor.
Thus, installing the floor tiles according to the invention is much easier, such that the installation can be carried out by unskilled personnel, thereby considerable labor cost is saved.
The moderate thickness and weight of the composite tiles according to the invention further reflects on savings in the tile storage and transport costs.
It should be noted, moreover, that the slab of stone material of the tiles according to the invention is effectively protected against moisture penetration since the underlying metal base member forms a barrier to any rising damp from the floor foundation or old floor underneath.
As to the strength, soundproofing, flame reaction and flame resistance of the composite tiles according to the invention, such properties are fully comparable to those of similar prior tiles.
Specifically, the soundproof property of the inventive floor tiles is very good since the rest feet can muffle any resounding with people""s steps. As to flame reaction, these composite tiles are classified in Class 1 or 0.
Further features and advantages of the composite floor tile according to the invention will be apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example and not of limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings.